Neonatal maternal separation opposes the facilitatory effect of castration on the respiratory response to hypercapnia of the adult male rat: evidence for the involvement of the medial amygdala

Abstract

Respiratory manifestations of panic disorder (PD) include a greater respiratory instability and enhanced responsiveness to CO₂ compared to normal individuals. While the prevalence of PD is ~3 times greater in women compared with men, the origins of this sexual dimorphism remain poorly understood. Much like PD patients, adult female rats previously subjected to neonatal maternal separation (NMS) show an increase in their ventilatory response to CO₂. Because this effect of NMS is not observed in males, we hypothesized that testosterone prevents NMS-induced hyper-responsiveness to CO₂.

Pups subjected to NMS were placed in an incubator for 3 h/day from postnatal days 3 to 12. Control pups remained undisturbed. At adulthood (8 to 10 weeks of age), rats were then subjected either to sham surgery or castration. Fourteen days later, breathing was measured at rest (room air) and during acute exposure to hypercapnia (5 and 10% CO₂ for 10 min each) using plethysmography. To gain insight into the mechanisms involved, c-fos expression was used as an indicator of neuronal activation. Brains were collected following air or CO₂ exposure for quantification of c-fos positive cells by immunohistochemistry in selected regions, including the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), the dorso-medial hypothalamus, and the amygdalar complex. Castration produced a 100% increase of hyperventilatory response to 10% CO₂ in control rats. Unexpectedly, castration had no effect on the hyperventilatory response of NMS rats. The intensity of the hypercapnic response was inversely correlated with c-fos expression in the medial amygdala. We conclude that testosterone prevents the hyper-responsiveness to CO₂ whereas NMS attenuates sensitivity to hormone withdrawal. We propose that an inhibitory influence from the medial amygdala contributes to this effect.

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